OpenAI was a research lab — now it’s just another tech company

Here’s the thing about asking investors for money: they want to see returns.

OpenAI launched with a famously altruistic mission: to help humanity by developing artificial general intelligence. But along the way, it became one of the best-funded companies in Silicon Valley. Now, the tension between those two facts is coming to a head.

Weeks after releasing a new model it claims can “reason,” OpenAI is barreling toward dropping its nonprofit status...